Every so often, a small discovery can bring a forgotten story home.
While browsing an online auction site, I came across a letter connected to a family with ties to both Newcastle, Australia, and Wales in the UK.
Something about the names, the handwriting, the fragility of the letter, and the scattered trail of information spoke of a story waiting to be pieced together. I purchased the letter and began tracing the family’s history, uncovering a narrative that spans continents – from the coalfields of South Wales, to the mining towns of Tennessee, and also to Newcastle, New South Wales.
This article pulls together official records, cemetery listings, and family history resources to tell just a tiny part of the story of the Argust family – migrants, merchants, and miners whose lives unfolded across three continents.
It’s a reminder that Newcastle’s history is full of threads that stretch across oceans and generations. If you’re a descendant of the Argust family, or know someone who might be, I’d love to hear from you. Bringing this story back to Newcastle is just the beginning.
And knowing how much our Losties love a history puzzle, I’m looking forward to your contributions!
12 July 1910 – Charles and Bella Argust in Newcastle, write to their sister, Sarah, in Tennessee, US.
Transcription – uncorrected
Kenrick St
Junction, Newcastle
N.S. Wales
Australia
July 12 1910
My Dearest Sister,
It was in sorrow that we read your sad letter — the angel of death has been doing its work of destruction amongst our friends in Newcastle — but little we thought that the same angel was doing its work in America and taking our beloved brother away —
It was very sad news to us far away here — but what must it be to you his beloved wife. My wife and myself and the children send to you our deepest love and sympathy and we pray that God in his mercy will even bless you and your family in your bereavement.
I would have loved to come there and give you all a surprise before his death. I had full hopes of seeing him once more — We have not seen one another for 30 years — Although your letter was a sad one — it gave me pleasure to read in it, that my dear brother Tom had a Sunday school class.
I hope & trust & believe that he has reached the golden shore — where there is no death, neither pain or sorrow — to mar the heavenly joy.
Dear sister, let us not give up hope of seeing him again — because he is only across the bar — And he may be singing with the Redeemed one: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.”
My dear sister, I would like to say something to you that would soothe your wounded heart — but words are such empty things — I cannot express my own thoughts but I’ll just quote these words:
“Blessed are the dead in Christ for they shall see God.”
That’s grand isn’t it — Beloved sister, we must look beyond the grave for his lovely face to shine in Glory — I remember well his lovely face — although 30 years has gone — And I used to love it too — And I shall always think of his face as I saw it before he left home.
My little daughter received the photos all right & she is so sorry that she hasn’t replied to her uncle & thanked him — But she is very proud of the photos, to think they are her own — And she wishes me to tell you that she is so sorry that her dear uncle is dead — but she hopes he is safe in Heaven with Jesus — and she is going to write to you later on, and she will tell you all the things she was going to tell uncle about —
She is very anxious to know the names of the children that are on the lawn & she was asking me tonight about them — I have the photos on the mantel shelf in my study, and I can see you all every day.
May God bless you abundantly in your sorrow is our earnest wish.
With love,
From your ever brother & sister,
Charles and Bella August
The Argust Family – from Wales, to New South Wales and Tennessee
Wales 1871
The 1871 Wales Census lists the Argust family living in Forchaman, Aberdare, Glamorgan. They’re a coal mining family.
Their mother, Elizabeth Williams, died in 1871, and their father, Charles Argust, died on 27 April 1891. At some point, Thomas and Charles leave Wales – Charles to Australia, Thomas to America.
- Charles Argust 44
Elizabeth Argust 44
Thomas Argust 16
William Argust 14
John Argust 12
George Argust 8
Charles Argust 6
Sarah Argust 4
Elizabeth Argust 2
Margaret Walters 16 – living with the family as a servant
Newcastle, NSW, Australia – Charles Herbert Argust 1866 – 1942
Charles Herbert Argust was born in 1866 in Glamorgan, Wales, to Charles Argust and Elizabeth Williams. He emigrated to New South Wales after the death of his father, also Charles, in 1891.
In 1897, he married Isabella Rodgers in Hamilton. They had one son, Stanley Charles Herbert Argust, who was born in 1897 and died in 1917 at age 20. He is buried at Sandgate Cemetery, Newcastle.
Charles died on 21 June 1942 and is buried at Beresfield. Isabella died in 1943.
Sources:
– NSW BDM: 5518/1897 (marriage); 24196/1897 (Stanley’s birth); 11378/1942 (Charles’s death)
– Find A Grave: Stanley C. H. Argust
Soddy, Tennessee, US – Thomas Argust
Thomas Argust was born 30 April 1855 in Michaelston, Glamorgan, Wales, the eldest son of Charles and Elizabeth Argust.
He emigrated to the United States in 1875 or 1889 and in 1900 he was a merchant in Soddy, Hamilton County, Tennessee.
He married Sarah Jane Huxtable Phillips in Hamilton County on June 1, 1886. They had one son, Charles.
Thomas died on 24 April 1910 and is buried in the Soddy Presbyterian Cemetery in Tennessee.
And so it goes
There’s undoubtedly a lot more to know about this family!
In Newcastle, Charles Argust became the musical director of the Central Methodist Mission in King Street – the venue now known as Bartholomew’s. He retired from his role in 1928 after ’25 years of unselfish service’. Further reading in Trove shows that Charles was a dedicated music teacher, heavily involved in local eisteddfods, and the choice of musician and conductor at Newcastle weddings.
But for now, wouldn’t it be wonderful to find family members of Charles, Bella, and Thomas!
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